Southern Baptists in California have elected an...

Southern Baptists in California have elected an Anaheim pastor as their new president and changed the name of their state body.

The Rev. John Jackson, 57, pastor of the 1,000-member Crescent Southern Baptist Church in Anaheim for 19 years, won a 1-year term as president, succeeding the Rev. John Swartz of Escondido. If custom is followed, Jackson will be elected to a second term in 1989.

The more than 1,300 “messengers,” or delegates, who met for two days this week at the Disneyland Hotel, also voted to change the name of the state body from “The Southern Baptist General Convention of California” to “California Southern Baptist Convention.”

In the two previous annual meetings, resolutions to drop the word “Southern” had failed despite arguments that the regional name discouraged potential church members not originally from the South. The name change was seen by some as a compromise to highlight the California identity while retaining the link to the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

Southern Baptists, whose headquarters are in Fresno, also constitute the largest Protestant denomination in the state--1,446 churches and missions and 390,360 members. A basic budget of $11.7 million was adopted, a record total although only a 2.3% increase over the last year’s amount.

* PARISHES

Catholics in more than 240 of the 285 parishes in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties were requested this month to commit themselves to a new “sacrificial giving program” proportionate to their incomes. Each family or individual was asked to set aside a consistent weekly or monthly amount for charity, then give half of it to the parish and the rest to charitable groups of their choice. The drive for pledges, which culminates Sunday, was encouraged by Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony as “a concrete way of putting Christian beliefs in action.”

* ANNIVERSARY

The 25th anniversary of the death of author C. S. Lewis, who is well-read among Christians, will be observed in a service of remembrance 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at St. Luke Episcopal Church in Monrovia. Meanwhile, Multnomah Press has published “The C. S. Lewis Hoax,” by Orange resident Kathryn Lindskoog, author of “C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian,” who details her earlier allegations that Lewis’ literary estate was mishandled and misrepresented in part after the British writer’s death.

* THANKSGIVING

Among joint Thanksgiving services scheduled next week is a traditional interfaith one sponsored by mid-Wilshire congregations at 10 a.m. Thursday in the imposing First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. In North Hollywood, a Thanksgiving eve service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the First Presbyterian Church with ministers and rabbis from nine congregations taking part. Donations for the coalition’s Interfaith Food Pantry will be accepted.